When a fan of resource-intensive dynamic applications has a desire to enjoy the passage of the next novelty of the game world, he will certainly think about the possibilities of his own video adapter installed in the system unit. After all, as practice shows, budget devices and the initial game class have to cope with the tasks more and more difficult. There is only one way out - to purchase a GTX 480-class High-End graphics card and forget about the problems associated with braking in demanding toys for 5-10 years. Features, reviews, a review and comparison with competitor products will help customers make the right choice.
Specifications
The chip, code-named Fermi and labeled GF100, was built using 40-nanometer technology, which allowed the manufacturer not only to place more transistors (3.2 billion) on the chip, but also reduce the power consumption of the GeForce GTX 480 gaming device. The heat dissipation characteristics do not exceed 250 watts, which is a great indicator for the High-End class. The video adapter is equipped with four clusters of graphic data processing, has 15 streaming multiprocessors and 480 CUDA cores. The graphics processor, in the factory version, operates at a frequency of 700 MHz. The video memory is created on GDDR5 chips, has a capacity of 1.5 GB and works on a 384-bit bus. The effective memory frequency is 3696 MHz.
Supported Technologies
The weak link in the game video adapter is support for the DirectX 11 API libraries. It is this characteristic that spoils many potential buyers with the general impression of products with the GTX 480 chip. The advantages include support for shaders version 5.0 and the introduction of modern technologies responsible for working with 3D virtualization (3D Vision, Blu Ray 3D and their analogues).
A rather interesting innovation was made by Nvidia, introducing 3D Surround technology into the device. The manufacturer claims that now the owners can connect three devices to the video card to display the video and use 3D Vision glasses to view the image. True, judging by the reviews of the owners, this technology is still far from perfect, therefore, all these new developments that are related to 3D cause only dissatisfaction from buyers. After all, no one wants to overpay for technologies that will not be used.
Unlocking the potential of the graphics accelerator
For the GTX 480 graphics accelerator, the performance characteristics of the entire system are critical. First of all, we are talking about a processor that should have a frequency above 3 GHz and have 4 separate cores on the same platform. The manufacturer Nvidia uses an Intel Core I7 (695 Extreme) chip in its promotional videos, respectively, to unlock the potential of the video adapter, the user must have a processor with a similar performance.
There are no CLAIMS to RAM, however, in their reviews, users claim that most modern toys require at least 8 GB. As for the hard drive, everything is clear without comment - only an SSD can provide decent performance for the entire system. There may be problems with the power supply. Experts recommend paying attention not to the power of the device (it should be at least 750 W), but to the presence of a powerful 12-volt line, otherwise the owner may lose the video card due to a power failure.
Mobile Market Representative
It is worth noting that laptops use a modified graphics accelerator based on the GTX 480 chip. Features it differs significantly from a discrete device created for personal computers. Firstly, the manufacturer reduced the number of CUDA cores from 480 to 352, which significantly affected the overall performance of the mobile platform (a decrease of about 20% when testing with synthetic tests). The manufacturer also reduced the memory bus bandwidth by limiting it to standard 256 bits for most mid-range graphics cards.
As for the technologies involved, including support for modern libraries, here everything remains unchanged. Naturally, most buyers are interested in the performance of the laptop, and not its ability to work with 3D. Therefore, these changes did not go unnoticed by many users and, judging by their reviews, the installed chip is unlikely to attract the attention of many buyers.
Winged swing
After the 5th generation video adapters entered the market, many enthusiasts rushed to compare them with the top-end devices of the previous class, so the most popular in the media is the comparison: GTX 480 vs GTX 570. Many owners of the 4th generation graphics accelerator assure others in their reviews that Nvidia didn’t deal with them, because when you study the technical characteristics of both devices, it turns out that they are almost identical, but the cost of video cards is different (480 GTX is more expensive).
Surprisingly, when compared in synthetic tests, the GTX 570 graphics card outperforms the 4th generation flagship. Conducting a performance review in resource-intensive dynamic games on the GTX 480, we can conclude: the situation is changing radically. Fans of applications such as GTA 5, Metro 2033, Dirt 2 with the top representative of the 4th generation will be able to enjoy the game at maximum settings with a high frame rate. But the owners of the GTX 570 will only be able to launch the application with high quality.
Step through the generation
As for the comparison of the GTX 480 vs GTX 650, the result can be predicted without any testing. Although the last representative of the 6th generation, however, he belongs to the middle gaming class, and he simply does not have a single chance to snatch victory from the flagship Nvidia 480 GTX. In synthetic tests, the GTX 650 will demonstrate performance that will be at least 30-35% lower than that of the opponent.
True, in resource-intensive dynamic games, the situation can be slightly corrected by overclocking the representative of the 6th generation both from memory and from the core. Judging by the reviews of enthusiasts, the gap in performance can be halved. But no one bothers the owners of the GTX 480 to increase the power of the video adapter by overclocking, but the flagship has potential, and it is much greater than that of representatives of the low-cost segment. If the buyer is faced with this choice (take a 480 GTX or 650 GTX), then the first representative of Nvidia is preferable, even if he is several years older than his opponent.
Obvious superiority
A comparison of the 4th generation flagship with the representative of the middle gaming class of the 700th series of video cards might look rather strange. However, there are desperate users who want to see a comparison of two productive devices GTX 480 vs GTX 760. It is logical to assume that as a result of the transition to a new process technology (from 40 to 28 nanometers), the representative of the 7th series will very easily outperform the competitor in all tests, like synthetic ones and gaming.
And if you take into account that the manufacturer has placed on one chip GTX 760 1152 processor CUDA, then all doubts will immediately disappear. Do not forget that, starting from the 700th series, Nvidia GPUs have passed the psychological barrier of 1000 MHz and equip all video cards with at least 2 GB of memory. Unambiguously in such a comparison, the representative of the GTX 480 simply has no chance of winning.
Finally
Summing up the representative of the High-End 4th generation, we can draw several conclusions. Firstly, the owners of this video adapter does not make sense to switch to video cards of the 500th and 600th series. However, if the buyer is faced with a choice - take the 7th generation graphics accelerator or give preference to the GTX 480, - owner reviews and a lot of tests conducted by enthusiasts recommend buying a 7th series video card.